intro

A random series of articles on war gaming in 40K, FOW and other systems. The headings are,
WiP; Conversions and models in various states of assembly.
PiP; Paint works on various models.
Mission Critical; scenarios or missions to bring a bit of a twist to a normal game.
MiA; rules for units and characters that could/should/might appear in a game.
Dig In; How to guides on making various types of terrain for different game systems.
Sit Rep; Battle reports and after action reports on games played

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nearly finished the thirty man mob of wild boyz. They still need a Nobz either an Indian Jones type conversion or a bigger wild boy with looted high tech equipement. Next up is a mob of Kromlech Orc War Two or a mad boyz mob.

Orc version of two heads are better than one

The fantasy savage orks are very dynamic. Skirmishing in 40K brings out the sense of movement

Some of the face paint is based of Apache indian warpaint so because it just nice.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Somewhere in France in 1944. British Armour pierced the German lines and are racing to cut off the retreating Germans. In response the Germans have hastily put together a panzer kampfgruppe with orders to stop there advance. As day breaks both sides confront each other.

Design note

One of the strength of FOW is tank combat. At 15mm you get more bang for the buck without losing too much individuality. The random strength of force means the mission be played a few times before it gets repetitive. Also, players have less control over what is in their force and so can spend more time trying to figure out what to do with what they have, rather figuring out what they want to have.

Terrain:

The ground is open.

Woods counts as very difficult terrain.
Buidlings are impassable

Forces (and special rules):

Panzer company (Defender)

1 command platoon (random strength)

1 panzer platoon of Panthers (random strength)

1 panzer platoon of PiV (random strength)

1 Schwere panzer platoon (random strength, call that a heavy tank)

British tank company (Attacker)

1 command platoon (random strength)

3 Sherman (75s) platoon (random strength)

1 Sherman (76s) platoon (random strength. attachment)

1 Stuart platoon (random strength)

1 M10 tank destroy platoon (random strength)

Deployment and initiative:

The entire British force arrives on turn 1 entering the table from the Northern road.

The entire German force arrives on turn 1 entering the table from the Southern road.

The British get the first turn.

Special rules;

1) Random strength.

The British have been pushing long and hard. The company has not yet have had time to replace all its loss with some platoons under strength. Similarly the Germans have been in prolong combat and platoons have also taken losses. All units in the is mission have random strength determined at the start of the game before deployment.

For each PiV, Panthers, Shermans (75s and 76s), Stuarts and M10s platoon roll two D4 dice and pick the highest, That is the strength the platoon.

For the Tiger platoon roll two D3 dice and pick the highest. That is the strength the platoon.

For the german command platoon roll D6 and see below

1 CnC in PiV

2-3 CnC + 2nd CnC in PiVs

4-5 CnC in Panther

6 Cnc + 2nd CnC in Panthers

For the Britsh command platoon roll D6 and see below

1 CnC in Sherman

2-3 CnC + 2nd CnC in Shermans

4-5 CnC, 2nd CnC + 1 tank team in Shermans

6 CnC, 2nd CnC + 2 tank teams in Shermans

2) Call that a heavy tank (optional)*

In the late war production problems, lack of material and constant bombing hampered the formation of the heavy tank units*. The actual strength varied greatly with some units getting PII tanks to make up the short fall and other units getting King tigers that missed the last shipment. If the German player wants he can opted to test for heavy tank platoon. Roll a D6 and compare the result below.

1. LOW SUPPLIES. Replace the Tiger platoon with the same number of PIII tanks.

2-5 Situation normal. No effect

6. OVER SUPPLIED. Replace the Tiger platoon with the same number of Tiger II tanks.

3) Attachment (optional)

The Sherman 76s platoon can be broken up and form combat attachment to any of the other sherman platoons.

Victory conditions

There is only one objective that is the point where the road leaves the eastern table edge. After turn six. If there are no British platoons in the German half of the table the Germans win. After turn twelve if both sides are still fighting the game is a draw.

References

*Tigers in Combat by Wolfgang Schneider (bit of gold mine if you are interested in tanks in WW2).

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Not really. more a what to do with food containers after they have emptied during Christmas. Frist up – Pringle’s

I am not sure what gamers would do with pringles possible starve, more likely be stuck for something to use to fuel tanks and storage silos. Below is how to guide for some fuel silos made from pringles tube. For a twist and to make more line of site blocking terrain the fuel silo are horizontal rather than up right.

Material

Pringles tube

2 Pringles tube lids

Superglue

Foam card

Plastic straw or hollow rod about 1cm long

Method

Silo;

1 ) Glue the two lids to either end of the tube

2) Drill or cut a small hole for the rod in the lid at the bottom of the tube and

Glue the rod to the bottom of the tube.

Silo mount (needed to stop the silo from rolling every where)

1) Cut out a foam card section the length and width of the tube for base.

2)Cut out some mounts for the tube from the foamcard,

Painting

1) paint the base and silo separately

2) paint the base grey and undercoat the silo metal. I used plasticote silver finish.

3) (optional) Spray the silo with hair spray and sprinkle with large scatter, small pebbles etc, then allow to dry.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Still recovering from Operation Epsom the Germans committed the 9th and 10th Panzer grenadiers to recapture Rauray to recover the lost ground. Opposing them was the 1st Tyneside Scottish with support from the 24th Lancers.

Design note; Based off Dave Brown’s Battles for the west scenario book for battlegroup panzer grenadier. (Pretty handy if you need inspiration for a FOW battle on the western side)

Terrain,

Fields count as concealing terrain for infantry and open terrain for vehicles.

Woods count as concealing terrain for infantry and impassable terrain for vehicles.

The game lasts 12 turns or until either the 1st Tyneside Scottish or Kampfgruppe Weidinger break contact

Victory conditions;

There is only one objective in this game that is the village of Rauray. Whoever controls the objective at the end of the game is the winner. In the event of a draw the British win.

Aftermath;

There was one re-fight of the battle for Rauray. Initially it looked like a German total win. The panzers and grenadiers operating as a team swiftly over ran the British outer perimeter with no losses.However, when they made it to the edge of the town they hit trouble. The 24th Lancers put in an appearance and started to shoot-up the half tracks while the Antitank platoon opted to ambush the PiVs, destroying two and ,seemingly, permanently bailing out the rest of the platoon. The German pioneers frist assualt on the town was pinned by defensive fire then decimated by HMG teams. In the end it took nearly the entire Kampfgruppe to clear the village. All the time watching the tanks of the 24th lancers getting closer and closer.

Kampfgruppe Weidinger

British deployment- 1 platoon in the village

British deployment- 1 platoon in the Wood

German armour rolls on

Halftracks shelter behind the hill screened by Panthers

PiV and halftracks steam roller of the British first line of defence in the hay fields

Grenadiers clear the wood then launch an assault into Rauray

PiV and pioneers assualt the town.

Britsh armour finally makes an appearance

M10s line up shots on half tracks

Anti tank guns also put in an appearance targeting the PiV

PiVs try to out flank the british anti tank guns

Half tracks take fire from supporting shermans.

Half tracks and Tank destroyers do not mix well

PiV Outflank move does not go as planned. But the grenadiers clear out the last of the defenders